• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 16, 2024

Premium TV and video-related products keep coming at us -- including more TV set brands under the somewhat familiar monikers, but not always associated with TV sets -- from Amazon, Roku, Xumo and more.

But in addition, we also have a new class of video headgear to deal with -- a whole new class of products.

This is where Apple has decided to come in -- at the moment with pricey Apple Vision Pro headset, at a nominal $3,500.

For a long time, high-quality, fan favorite Apple products -- iPhones, Apple Watches and AirPods as well as iMacs, MacBooks, and MackBook Air laptops -- have all had their top price markup -- although a bit lower at times.

No matter. Mass global sales and adoption have been the result.

But Apple, like any other good consumer-product company, always looks to the future. 

Among other initiatives, it believed new electric vehicles were a good way to move into the future -- specifically because it assumed this tech-heavy consumer product could benefit from Apple systems knowhow. Still, not everything is smooth sailing for Apple.

EVs are now pushed to the side.

So on to headsets. No surprise then that this new interactive entertainment/recreational device might be a better bet. But at a starting $3,500 price tag?

Hub Entertainment Research tells us -- perhaps with little surprise -- that consumers are not all in a hurry to buy into a new device initially marketed as all about fun, and entertainment  -- at least initially.

Apple hopes that perhaps specific work-like functions may expand its use -- say, being more efficient when it comes to surgical procedures, or perhaps areas that might help a car mechanic. (Hey, maybe with an EV?) 

The initial idea is not to make it an iPhone-necessity that consumers use for work, business and otherwise. It's a fun, shiny new recreational plaything.

It wasn't that many years ago that TV Watch wondered why Apple didn't move quickly into the smart TV set business.

Unlike Amazon, Roku may have a potential slow start to getting shelf space against big TV brands, and a big distribution network -- among other things -- and would be too much of a heavy lift for a consumer product in need of heavy in-store sales.

Instead, it went with the more modest approach for a set-top-box device: Apple TV.

Perhaps Apple TV believed a new smart TV set device had limitations with regard to any futurist functions consumers might want? Certainly the TV set really was limited in current day needs -- mobility and communication among them.

So should we only look to Apple for more niche electronic devices and services -- with the potential for long-term gradual significant disruption and change?

In February, analysts estimate that initial Apple Vision Pro sales were somewhere between a very modest 160,000 to 200,000 units. 

At $3,500, I am guessing for Apple this is no surprise. That said, what’s the plan now?